Heel attaching machines



Sept. 15, 1964 J. M. BASSFORD ETAL 3,148,374

HEEL ATTACHING MACHINES Original Filed Nov. 1. 1961 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 In 1/611 0115' ohn M Bassford Thomas H. Bz'ven Alba/i E'- Louezf Hank R 5mg: M'Zlz'amfiSmiZ/z By zheir fifiorney- Sept. 15, 1964 J. M. BASSFORD ETAL HEEL ATTACHING MACHINES Original Filed Nov. 1. 1961 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 United States Patent 3,143,374 I EEL ATTACHING MAQHHNES John M. Bassford, Thomas H. Biven, Albert E. Lovett, Frank Richard Smith, and Wiliiam E. Smith, Eseieester, England, assignors to United Shoe Machinery Corporation, Boston, Mass, a corporation of New .iersey Continuation of application Ser. No. 149,370, Nov. 1, 1961. This application Nov. 29, 1962, Ser. No. 240,781 11 Claims. (Cl. 1335) The present invention relates to heel attaching machines of the general type disclosed in United States Letters Patent No. 2,734,191, granted February 14, 1956, on an application filed in the name of Robert C. Quarmby, and more specifically to staple feeding and driving mechanisms for improving said machines. This application is a continuation of our U.S. application Serial No. 149,- 370, filed November 1, 1961, now abandoned.

Nails used in the attachment of high style Louis heels to womens shoes have a tendency to break through the walls of the heels during the heel attaching operation. It has been found that staples used in the attachment of heels to shoes can be controlled better than nails as they are driven through the heel seat and into the heel of the shoe, said staples also having a greater holding power than nails, partly by reason of the fact that the closed ends of the staples form strong anchorages in the heel seats of the shoes and accordingly show less tendency than nails to be pulled through said heel seats.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a heel attaching machine by the use of which staples may be quickly and effectively fed to staple driving mechanism and thereafter driven through the heel seat of a shoe end into a heel clamped against said heel seat.

With the above object in view and in accordance with a feature of the present invention the illustrative machine is provided with a support having a face adapted to be engaged by a shoe, means for forcing a heel against a heel seat portion of the shoe, a plurality of passages which are formed in said support and terminate at said face and which converge as they approach said face and are adapted slidingly to receive staples, drivers movable respectively in said passages, and power means for causing said drivers to drive staples in said passages in converging relation into the heel seat portion of the shoe and into the heel whereby to attach the heel to the shoe. The machine also comprises a loader block which has extending heightwise through it one or more passages, each of said passages comprising a lower portion of uniform length and width and extending depthwise at a substantial angle to the vertical and adapted slidingly to guide staples, each of said passages also comprising an upper portion which has a length equal to that of the lower portion of the passage and increases in Width as it extends depthwise away from said lower portion of the passage and which is adapted to allow staples introduced therein to be transported laterally in order to allow them to slide into the lower portion of the passage.

The loader block may be advantageously used with a foot plate having a vertically disposed staple guiding passage an upper portion of which is of uniform length and width and extends depthwise vertically and a lower portion of which has a uniform length and is of increas ing width as it extends downward and is adapted to cooperate with the upper portion of the above-mentioned passage in the loader block, when said block is in a staple receiving position below the foot plate, for the purpose of laterally transposing the staples in order to allow delivery thereof to the lower portions of the passage in the loader block.

The present invention consists in the above features and in novel features which are hereinafter described and Patented Sept. 15, 1964 relate to staple driving mechanism and to pneumatic means for expediting transfer of the staples from the loader block to passages in a nailing die, reference being had to the accompanying drawings which illustrate one embodiment of the invention selected for purposes of illustration, said invention being fully disclosed in the following description and claims.

FIG. 1 is a plan view, partly on the lines II and Ia-la of FIG. 3, of a foot plate and a loader block of an illustrative machine;

FIG. 2 shows in side elevation, partly broken away and partly in section on the line IIII of FIG. 4, a nailing die which forms part of a jack post, a loader block positioned over the die and staple driving mechanism co- Operating with the nailing die;

FIG. 3 is a section on the line IIII1I of FIG. 1 showing details of the foot plate and the loader block;

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the jack post of the machine as viewed on the line IV-lV of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a section on the line VV of FIG. 2 showing a rear staple driver of the machine;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the rear staple driver;

FIG. 7 is a side elevation, partly in section, similar to a portion of FIG. 2 showing a heel in the process of being attached to a shoe by the use of staples;

FIG. 8 is a section on line VHIVIII of FIG. 4 at the end of the staple driving operation;

FIG. 9 shows in plan portions of nail transfer mechanism of the illustrative machine when a loader block, which forms part of said mechanism, is arranged over the nailing die of the machine and staples have been dropped from said die, a shutter associated with the block having bean swung from its active position beneath the block; an

FIG. 10 is a view partly on the line XX of FIG. 9 showing means for controlling flow of high pressure air to passages of the loader block in order to eject staples from said passages into passage of the nailing die.

The illustrative machine is described with reference to the attachment of a Louis heel 243 (FIGS. 7 and 8) to the heel seat of a shoe 22 by the use of staples 24 which are driven at substantial angles to the general plane of the rim of the attaching face of the heel to insure that the staples shall not break out through the side and/or the rear walls of the heel. Each of the staples has legs which may be described as being joined together by a closed end, said legs terminating in ends which may be relatively sharp or fairly blunt and which collectively constitute the open end of the staple.

The staples 24 are delivered simultaneously in groups of three with their closed ends or bridge portions down to the rear and side passages of slots 26 (FIG. 3), 27 (FIGS. 1 and 3) respectively of a foot plate 28 which corresponds to the foot plate disclosed in Patent 2,734,191, through buree flat tubes 3!) by the use of selector mechanism. The foot plate 28 is secured to a main frame 32 of the machine, upper portions of the slots 26, 27 of said foot plate having a width and length slightly greater than the thickness and the breadth respectively of the staples 24 so as to receive said staples as they fall closed ends downward into the slots from the tubes 31}. Although the staples 24 have been described as being supplied automatically to the slots 2-5, 27 of the foot plate 28 it will be appreciated that said staples may be supplied manually to said slots at the end of said operating cycle of the machine. At the time that the staples 24 are dropped into the slots 25, 27 of the foot plate 28 a shutter 29 (FIG. 1) corresponding to the shutter (78) disclosed in Patent 2,734,191 rests beneath the foot plate.

Reciprocable between a staple delivering position (FIG. 2) over a nailing die 38 of a jack post or work support 40 (FIGS. 2 and 4) of the machine and a nail receiving position (FIG. 3) below the foot plate 28 is a loader block 42 having associated with it a shutter 44 (FIGS. 2, 3, 9) corresponding to the shutter (83) disclosed in Patent 2,734,191. The operation of the loader block 42 and its shutter 44 is similar to the operation of the loader block (82) and shutter (83) disclosed in Patent 2,734,191 to which reference may be had for a detail knowledge of the machine and its operation.

The shoe 22 is supported upside down on the nailing die 38 which is provided with rear and side passages 46, 47 adapted, as will be hereinafter explained, slidingly to receive the staples 24 from the loader block 42, said rear and side passages being disposed at angles of approximately 45 and 65 degrees respectively to a plane of the rim of the work supporting face 48 of the nailing die. Slidingly mounted along the passages 46, 47 of the nailing die 38 are rear and side drivers 50, 50a which are T-shaped in cross section and comprise enlarged guide block pontions 52, 52a slidable in rectilinear passages 54,

540 formed in the nailing die and arranged parallel to the associated staple receiving passages 46, 47 in which the drivers 58, 50a are reciprocated.

Slidable vertically in a guideway 56 (FIG. 2) of the jack post 40 is a driver bar 58 which is power driven, when the machine is power operated through its heel attaching cycle, in response to the depression of a treadle (not shown) of the machine. A flanged upper end portion of the driver bar 58 is universally connected to the lower ends of links 60, 68a the upper ends of which are pivotally connected by means of pins 62 to the guide block portions 52, 52a of the rear and side drivers 58, 50a which as above explained are movable along the passages 46, 47 to drive the staples 24 through the heel seat of the shoe 22 and into the heel 2G.

The rear and side passages 46, 47 of the nailing die 38 are arranged at the proper angle to the planar rim of the work supporting face 48 of the die to guide the staples 24 through the heel seat of the shoe 22 and into the heel 20 which is held against said heel seat by a holddown clamp 64 corresponding to the clamp (48) disclosed in Patent 2,734,191.

The loader block 42 has rear and side passages or slots 66, 67 which are adapted slidingly to receive staples 24 resting in the passages 26, 27 respectively of the foot plate 28 when the shutter 29 has been withdrawn from beneath the foot plate. As above explained, the loader block 42 is moved from its staple receiving position (FIG. 3) beneath the foot plate 28 to its staple delivering position (FIG. 2) above the nailing die 38 by mechanism disclosed in detail in said Patent 2,734,191, the rear and side passages 66, 67 .of the loader block 42 at this time being in register with the passages 46, 47 respectively of the nailing die 38. When the loader block 42 is in its nail receiving position beneath the foot plate 28 the shutter 44 is arranged beneath the block to retain the staples 24 in the passages 66, 67 of the block, said shutter being withdrawn from beneath the loader block by the action of a spring 68 as the block arrives over the nailing die 42 whereby to allow the staples resting in the passages of the loader block to drop from said block into the side and rear passages 46, 47 of the nailing die.

The rear passage or slot 26 formed in the foot plate 28 has an upper portion 26a (FIG. 3) which is of uniform length and width, said length and width being slightly greater than the breadth and thickness respectively of the staple 24 which is to be accommodated. The rear passage'or slot 66 formed in the loader block 42 has a lower portion 66a which is of the same cross section as the upper portion 26a of the passage 26 formed in the foot plate 28 and which extends depthwise at an angle of approximately 45 to the vertical. Upper portions 27a of the side slots 27 formed in the foot plate 28 and lower portions 67a of the side slots 67 in the loader block 42 have the same cross section as that of the upper portion 26a of the slot 26 inthe foot plate 28, said lower portions 4 67a being inclined at 65 to the lower planar face of the loader block.

It will be appreciated that when the loader block 42 is positioned over the nailing die 38, side Walls of the lower portions 66a, 67a of the rear and side slots 66, 67 of the nailing die 42 are in alinement respectively with side walls of the rear and side guide passages 46, 47 respectively of the nailing die 38. It is desirable that the depthwise extent of the passages 26, 27 in the foot plate 28 shall be substantially vertical so that the staples 24 shall fall freely under the force of gravity through the foot plate and into the rear and side passages 66, 67 of the loader block 42.

It may be desirable to vary the angles at which the side walls'of the lower portions 66a, 67a of the rear and side passages 66, 67 of the loader block 42 are disposed to the plane of the rim of the upper face 48 of the nailing die 38 in accordance with the style of the heel which is to be attached to the shoe, in which case a different nailing die 38 and loader block 42 are used. It will also be noted that when the loader block 42 is in its staple receiving position below the foot plate 28 side walls respectively of the lower portions 26b, 27b of the rear and side walls 26 and 27 of the foot plate are in alinement with side walls of upper portions 66b, 67b of the rear and side slots 66, 67 formed in the loader block 42 and that opposing side walls of said lower portions 26b, 27b diverge as they extend downwardly.

It will be apparent that as the shutter 29 is withdrawn from beneath the foot plate 28 by mechanism disclosed in Patent 2,734,191, staples 24 in the rear and side passages 26, 27 of the foot plate fall under the action of gravity into the passages 66, 67 of the nailing die 42. When the lower ends of the staples 24 have engaged respectively the entrances of the lower portions 66a, 67a of the passages 66, 67, the upper ends of the staples will have left the upper portions 26a, 27a of the passages 26, 27 of the foot plate and are allowed to swing laterally until they lie flat upon walls respectively of the passage portions 66b, 67b which are inclined to the vertical. After the staples 24 have swung into parallel relation with the walls of the lower portion 660, 67a respectively of the slots 66, 67 they slide into these portions until their lower ends engage the shutter 44 which at this time is in an active position below the loader block.

After a heel attaching cycle of the machine has been completed and the shoe with its heel attached has been removed from the machine the loader block 42 then in its rest position below the foot plate 28 is moved by mechanism disclosed in said Patent 2,734,191 to its staple delivering position over the nailing die 38 of the machine. As the loader block 42 arrives at the forward end of its stroke the shutter 44 is moved by the action of the spring 68 from beneath the block to allow staples 24 in said block to slide downward into the passages 46, 47 of the nailing die until they engage the rear and side drivers 50, 50a of the nail driving mechanism. 1

Occasionally the staples 24 are bent slightly from their general planes and do not slide as freely as desirable from the rear and side passages 66, 67 of the loader block 42 into the rear and side passages 50, 50a .of the nailing die 38. In order to facilitate transfer of the staples 24 from the loader block 42 to the nailingdie 38, said block has formed in it three air ducts 70 which are connected to a circular air duct 71 formed between the loader block and an annular carrier 73 for the block.

The annular loader block carrier 73 has mounted on it a control valve 72 connected by a line to the circular air duct 71 and connected to a line 74 open to a source of high pressure air. It will be noted that exit ends of the air ducts 70 are located near the lower ends of the passages 66, 67 of the loader block 42 so that air under pressure may be brought to bear against inner portions of the closed ends of the staples 24 resting in these passages, the construction and arrangement being such that when the shutter 44 has been moved from beneath the loader block 42 the staples will be moved by gravity and air pressure into the passages 45, 47 of the nailing die 38.

The shutter 44 has pivotally mounted on it an actuator cam 76 which is constantly urged toward its position shown in FIG. by a torsion spring 78. As the shutter 44 is moved from beneath the loader block 42 by the action of the spring 68 a bevel face 75a of the actuator cam 76 raises a spring-pressed plunger 72a of the valve 72 and thus opens said valve and then moves outward beyond said plunger to its wide open position shown in FIG. 9. The valve 72 has associated with it a time delay (not shown) which insures that the valve, once opened, remains open until the shutter has moved to a position from beneath the passages 65, 57 of the loader block 42 and staples 24 have been moved from said block into the passages 46, 47 of the nailing die 38, the springpressed plunger of the valve thereafter moving to its lower dash-line position to close the valve. As the loader block 42 is moved back to the nail receiving position beneath the foot plate 28, the shutter 44 is swung to its closed position beneath said block. During such movement of the shutter 44 the actuator cam 76 swings counterclockwise (FIG. 10) on the shutter against the action of the spring 78 by reason of its engagement wit the then lowered spring-pressed plunger 72a whereby to enable the cam 76 to be moved past the plunger 72a of the valve and the shutter 44 to be moved to its closed position beneath the loader block 42.

The staple receiving passages 46, 47 and the rectilinear passages 54, 54a may be described as converging as they approach the work supporting face 48. The staple receiving passages 46, .7 may also be described as arranged respectively in general planes, the closed end or bridge portion of the staple in the rear passage 46 being arranged or extending transversely of a central longitudinal plane of the shoe support 49 and the legs of the staple in said rear passage being disposed generally parallel to said plane of the shoe support. A closed end or bridge portion of each of the staples in the side passages 47 of the shoe support 49 may be described as being disposed at one angle to the central longitudinal plane of the shoe support and the legs of the staples in said side passages may be described as being arranged or disposed at another angle to said plan.

Having thus described our invention what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In a heel attaching machine the combination of a foot plate and a loader block which is arranged in fastening receiving position below said plate, said foot plate and loader block having respectively fastening receiving passages which are in register, upper and lower portions respectively of the registering passages in the foot plate and the loader block being of uniform cross section and being inclined to each other, lower and upper portions respectively of the passages in the foot plate and the loader block being of uniform length and being of increasing width as they approach each other to permit fastenings passing through the passages to swing whereby to enable them to move by gravity from the upper portions of the passages in the foot plate to the lower portions of the passages in the loader block.

2. in a heel attachin machine, the combination of a foot plate and a loader block arranged in a predetermined position below the foot plate, said foot plate and said loader block havin re isterin sta le uidin assa es a c a r u a upper and lower portions respectively of which are remote from each other, are of uniform length and width and are inclined to each other, lower portions of the passages in the foot plate and the upper portions of the passages in the loader block being substantially continuous with each other and being of uniform length and of the proper width to enable staples, after leaving the upper portions of the passages in the foot plate and engaging entrance ends of said lower portions of said passages in the loader block, to swing about their lower ends whereby to enable said staples to enter and to pass through said lower portions of the passages in the loader block.

3. In a machine for attaching heels to shoes by the use of staples, a foot plate having a vertically disposed staple guiding passage, an upper portion of which is of uniform length and width and a lower portion of which has a uniform length and is of increasing width as it extends downward.

4. In a machine for attaching heels to shoes by the use of staples, a foot plate having a vertically disposed staple guiding passage, an upper portion of which is of uniform length and is of a uniform Width defined by parallel planar side walls, a lower portion of said passage having a uniform length and having a width which is defined by a vertical planar side wall arranged parallel to and continuous with one of said planar side Walls of the upper portion of the guide passage and by an opposite side wall which diverges from the vertical planar side wall of said lower portion as it extends away from the upper portion of the staple guiding passage.

5. In a heel attaching machine, the combination of a foot plate and a loader block arranged in staple receiving position beneath the foot plate, said foot plate having a plurality of guide slots which are of uniform width and length and extend depthwise vertically, said loader block having a plurality of guide slots which are of uniform width and length and extend depthwise at a substantial angle to the vertical, said foot plate and loader block having a plurality of transposing slots which are substantially continuous with each other and are continuous with the guide slots respectively of the foot plate and the loader block and which are of uniform length and increase in width as they approach each other.

6. In a heel attaching machine, a loader block for accommodating staples, said block having formed in it one or m re passages, a lower portion of each of said passages being of uniform length and width and having a depthwise dimension disposed at a substantial angle to the vertical, and an upper portion of each of said passages having a length equal to that of the lower portion of each of the passages and increasing in width as it extends depthwise away from said lower portion of the passage,

7. In a heel attaching machine, a loader block for accommodating staples, said block having formed in it a plurality of passages, a lower portion of each or" said passages having a uniform length and having a uniform width defined by parallel planar side walls which are inclined at a substantial angle to the vertical, an upper portion of each of said passages having a length equal to the length of the lower portion of the passage and having its width defined by one planar side wall which is continuous with the lower planar side wall of said lower portion of said passage and by an opposing planar side wall which extends to the upper planar side wall of the lower portion of the passage and diverges from said one planar side wall as it extends depthwise from said lower portion of the passage.

8. Li a heel attaching machine the combination of a foot plate and a loader block arranged in staple receiving position beneath the foot plate, the upper part of said foot plate and the lower part of the loader block having formed in them staple guiding slots respectively which are spaced substantial distances from each other and are of uniform cross section and depthwise dimensions of which are inclined to each other, the lower part of the foot plate and the upper part of the loader block having formed in them respectively transposing slots which are continuous with guide slots respectively formed in the foot plate and the loader block and which are funnel shaped in width and are arranged in opposed relation to allow staples to swing about closed ends thereof after they have left the guide slots in the foot plate and preparatory to entering the guide slots in the loader block.

9. In a heel attaching machine, a loader block having a passage which is adapted to receive staples and has an exit end portion, a duct entering said passage near its exit s end portion, means for introducing air under pressure into said duct and accordingly into said passage for engagement with an inner face of the closed end of the staple in said passage whereby to force the staple from said passage.

10. In a heel attaching machine, a loader block having passages adapted to receive fastenings, a shutter for retaining said fastenings in the passages of the loader block, a nailing die having passages in register with the passages respectively of the loader block, means for withdrawing the shutter from beneath the loader block, and means operated in timed relation with the shutter for causing air under pressure to be applied against the fastenings in the passages of the loader block whereby to expedite ejection of said fastenings from said passages and into the passages of the nailing die.

11. In a machine for attaching heels to shoes, a support having a face adapted to be engaged by a shoe, means for forcing a heel against a heel seat portion of the shoe, a rear passage and side passages which are formed in the support and terminate at said face and which are arranged in general planes respectively and converge as they approach said face and are adapted to receive staples, a bridge portion of the staple in the rear passage being disposed transversely of a central longitudinal plane of the shoe support and the legs of the staple in the rear passage being disposed generally parallel to said plane, the bridge portion of each of the staples in the side passages being disposed at one angle to said plane and the legs of each of the staples in the side passages being disposed at another angle to said plane, drivers movable respectively in the rear and side passages, and power means for causing the drivers to drive the staples in the passages in converging relation into the heel seat portion of the shoe and into the heel whereby to attach the heel to the shoe.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Ingraham May 11, 1897 Chmelar Dec. 25, 1951 

1. IN A HEEL ATTACHING MACHINE THE COMBINATION OF A FOOT PLATE AND A LOADER BLOCK WHICH IS ARRANGED IN FASTENING RECEIVING POSITION BELOW SAID PLATE, SAID FOOT PLATE AND LOADER BLOCK HAVING RESPECTIVELY FASTENING RECEIVING PASSAGES WHICH ARE IN REGISTER, UPPER AND LOWER PORTIONS RESPECTIVELY OF THE REGISTERING PASSAGES IN THE FOOT PLATE AND THE LOADER BLOCK BEING OF UNIFORM CROSS SECTION AND BEING INCLINED TO EACH OTHER, LOWER AND UPPER PORTIONS RESPECTIVELY OF THE PASSAGES IN THE FOOT PLATE AND THE LOADER BLOCK BEING OF UNIFORM LENGTH AND BEING OF INCREASING WIDTH AS THEY APPROACH EACH OTHER TO PERMIT FASTENINGS PASSING THROUGH THE PASSAGES TO SWING WHEREBY TO ENABLE THEM TO MOVE BY GRAVITY FROM THE UPPER POR- 